This invention relates in general to the method and control apparatus used with home air conditioning and/or heating units to control the volume of heated or air conditioned space. Being designed in particular to conserve energy, the automatic control apparatus operates in conjunction with existing temperature controls. To date, all devices and patents reviewed consisted of timed set back thermostats, automatic damper systems to control room temperatures, or multiple thermostatic controls; none of which specifically addressed energy conservation through the use of an apparatus to control the volume of heated or air conditioned space based on a programed timed sequence.
Most residences have many rooms that are occupied only part time and on a regular schedule. For example, the kitchen, living room, dining room, recreation room, etc., are not occupied during sleeping hours, while bedrooms are occupied. For economic reasons it is desirable during unoccupied periods to discontinue heating or air conditioning the unoccupied rooms. In many instances, it is not desirable to completely isolate an unoccupied room. For this reason, each electrically operated damper is designed to allow 10 to 20 percent of original air flow to each unoccupied room.
An example of the usefulness of this apparatus can be illustrated by a typical working family in which the bedrooms are unoccupied during the day and are occupied during the night only. This family could program the apparatus to switch heated or air conditioned air from awake time areas to sleep time areas of the home and back to awake time living areas automatically according to their life style. Families requiring bedroom use continuously, for example, a family with small children, could use the bypass feature to continuously heat or air condition bedrooms, and program apparatus to discontinue air flow to kitchen, living room, etc., during sleeping hours. The bypass feature would also allow a family to indefinitely discontinue heating or air conditioning an unused or seldom occupied room.